


Daddy duty

by hopelessly_me



Series: HPC 2020 [7]
Category: Marvel
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Adopted Children, Clint gets to snuggle two kiddos, Cuddles, Exhausted dads, First Steps, I'm serious- all the fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Original Characters - Freeform, Sleepy Bucky, Tired clint, missed bath time, practical bucky, talk about retirement, tiny bit sad Clint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22943833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelessly_me/pseuds/hopelessly_me
Summary: Clint got home from a mission and is greeted by an upset toddler, a fussy one year old, and a tired Bucky.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton
Series: HPC 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619281
Comments: 18
Kudos: 98
Collections: MHEA Harlequin Hoopla Prompt Challenge 2020





	Daddy duty

Clint slumped the moment he got into the elevator, ready to be dead to the world for about three hours, if history was doomed to repeat itself. He worked on pulling his gloves and bracer off with a sigh. “Hey J, can you turn the lights to forty percent?” he requested.

The mission wasn’t even that hard, Clint was mostly just there to fly the Quinjet and make sure the new agents didn’t manage to somehow die or ruin the objective. But there were strong storms that made flying a bit more challenging than normal, and it slowed down the process of getting home by nearly five hours. He was pretty sure his run down feeling had more to do with an impending cold than actual mission stress.

“Of course, Agent Barton,” the AI system replied. “Might I warn you that Eva has just woken up?”

Clint paused. “Is Bucky awake?” he asked.

“My indicators show that he is currently sleeping,” JARVIS replied. “Shall I wake him?”

“No, let him sleep- can you patch me through the closest screen?” Clint requested.

“Certainly.”

Clint waited as he looked at a television screen popping up. Sure enough, the tiny toddler was out of bed, rubbing at her eyes and Clint could tell she was crying. When a purple light flash, Eva turned about until she locked eyes with the screen. Clint smiles and waves hello and watched as she let out a little sob, throwing her head back for a moment before the light flashed again to catch her attention. _One minute. One minute_ Clint signed with a patient smile, though watching Eva so upset was becoming painful to watch.

It only took a few minutes before the elevator opened and the little girl launched herself at Clint. Clint scooped her up and held her close, feeling her body shaking. That’s when he heard the first rumble of thunder. “Hey J- can we make sure her windows are closed so she can’t see the lightning?” he requested as he walked to an end table and opened the drawer. He sat down and slowly fitted small hearing aids into her ears. “There we go sweet pea,” he said softly.

“Stormin’,” Eva whined, wiping her face.

“I know, storms can be scary, but that’s okay,” Clint said, pulling her back against his chest and kicking his legs up onto the coffee table. “I got’cha now.” 

He rubbed her back and tried to soothe her worries. Clint noticed the strawberry smell to her hair and frowned because he forgot tonight was bath night, which he missed- again. He also got a video while out on a mission of a little boy, toddling in two unsteady legs and taking small, unsure steps with a big smile on his face. Clint tried to not be upset that he had missed Bennett’s first steps.

Clint knew for years that he wanted to adopt a few kids, pulling them out of the foster care system that had screwed him up as a kid. Bucky had been a little more hesitant to agree; he wanted children, said he used to think about it before and during the war to get him through. However, Bucky was a realist- he cited that their careers weren’t exactly kid friendly, and might put them more at risk, and Clint couldn’t help but agree. 

So they did what any logical adults would do, or basically what Bucky wanted to do- they had made contingency plans in case they ever decided to go through with adopting. Who was going to either quit, or retire, or if they were both going to go down to part time work. It was harder to ignore Avenger calls, but neither of them really had a problem with telling Steve to back off on missions. It was plans on where they would live, because Bucky wasn’t exactly a fan of raising a child or two in the Bed-Stuy apartment unless they did major renovations on the entire building, which they agreed they needed to have done anyway.

No amount of planning could have prepared them for Eva or Bennett. They had learned about the siblings through an agency and Clint automatically wanted to sign up; there was no logical way in his mind that he could say yes to one without saying yes to the other. Bucky wasn’t exactly sure they could handle two at one time, especially going from zero children to two, one being an infant and the other a toddler. They agreed to head down and talk about it with their agency. 

All it took was looking at the photo of the little girl with massively curly red hair and big green eyes for Clint to be a sucker, but the addition of hearing aids basically cemented the deal. He sat as patiently as he could while Bucky asked all the logical questions- who the birth parents were, the risk associated of taking the two in and the birth mother backing out with the little boy, and what exactly was needed to keep them both very happy. Clint was thankful for his thoroughness because Clint was too impulsive.

As her sobs turned into sniffles, Clint got up and walked back to her bedroom. And when her sniffles turned into tired sighs, Clint managed to lay her down and get her all tucked in. He grabbed her favorite book and made himself as comfortable as he could in her bed and softly began to read. Within minutes, Eva was back asleep and he took her hearing aids out and kissed her forehead before leaving her be.

Clint backed out of the room and looked down the hall as Bucky crept out, rubbing his face. Clint smiles and tapped his finger against his mouth and headed down the hall, following Bucky into their bedroom. Clint wrapped his arms around him and kissed him, enjoying the soft, sleepy, lazy way Bucky reacted. Bucky ducked his head down and rested against Clint’s shoulder.

“You’re back,” he muttered, his voice a little on the rough side.

“Yeah- I’m back,” Clint agreed. “I need to shower still and change. I got stopped by Eva and-“ Clint could hear the wail before JARVIS flashed a light. “And now we got a fussy Bennett.”

“I got’em,” Bucky said.

“Naw, go back to sleep,” Clint replied, kissing the top of Bucky’s head. “I haven’t seen him in a few days- I miss the bugger.”

“You sure?”

Clint snorted and steered Bucky gently back to the bed. “I’ll join you soon,” he promised. 

He made sure Bucky was back under the covers before he made his way down to the bedroom across the hall. He opened the door and watched as the little boy cried, reaching out chubby hands and making a grabbing motion. Clint picked him up and shushed him, walking him out of the room and down the hall towards the kitchen. Logically, he knew they were supposed to start weening the child off the bottle, but it’s was nearly four in the morning, which was not an hour Clint wanted to have a battle of the wills. He made a bottle as he carried Bennett in one arm, the little boy calming at the sight.

“Alright, see, not so bad, Benny boy,” Clint whispered soothingly. “Papa told me you started walking while I was gone. That’s a jerk move, kid,” he said softly, waiting for the bottle to warm. “You were supposed to wait for daddy to be here for that.”

With a warm bottle in hand, Clint walked back to the living room with his son and sat down on his recliner and rocked as he tried to ease Bennett back to sleep. He resisted the urge to run a hand over his blond hair, resisted leaning down to smell the same strawberry shampoo that would have matched Eva’s. Instead he watched as Bennett watched him before his eyes started to grow heavy. Clint reached back and grabbed a blanket, tucking it around the little boy as gently as he could and waited it out.

As soon as Bennett’s eyes closed, Clint made it to his feet, feeling sluggish himself. He walked back to his room and turned the noise machine up just a little more before he settled the toddler down, leaving a hand on Bennett’s chest for a little bit longer to ensure he stayed asleep before he crept out.

“You look exhausted,” Bucky said, sitting up in bed. “I could have handled Ben.”

“Naw, you had them for four days solo,” Clint said, crawling on to the bed and over to Bucky to kiss him. Bucky cupped his face and Clint closed his eyes.

“Shower.”

“But you’re warm,” Clint whined shamelessly, letting his body relax into Bucky’s. “And comfy. Have you ever considered going for the dad bod look?”

Bucky snorted and his hand ended up in Clint’s hair, as if that wasn’t going to lull him to sleep. “I am _not_ going to do the dad bod look. Not now, not ever.” Clint closed his eyes and shifted to sprawl on Bucky just a little bit more. “You good, Hawkeye?” he asked, leaning down to kiss the top of his head.

“Well, I missed bath time,” Clint said slowly. “And I missed Ben’s first steps. And we didn’t get that moment with Eva, so I was really hoping we’d get it with Ben.”

“I’m sorry,” Bucky murmured.

“I think I’m going to step down,” Clint admitted. “Take a step back. Live off the pension and just take Avengers Events. Maybe we can move out of the city. Something to spend more time with the kids. I missed them like crazy- missed you like crazy.”

“I dunno- I kind of like living in this dump,” Bucky joked. “How much ya think it would cost to get a two person soak tub? And a three person shower?” Clint snorted. “But I do agree with the stepping down part. If that’s what you want. Or maybe you can do office-“

“I avoid paperwork like the plague, Barnacles, no way in hell I’m going to survive a desk job.”

Bucky chuckled. “Maybe you can start a not for profit thing. Teach kids to shoot. Or ASL. Or self-defense.” Clint couldn’t help it when he yawned. “Maybe we’ll talk with Pepper about it tomorrow. Or, rather, today, but later,” Bucky said soothingly, his hand now running over Clint’s scalp. “Catch some sleep. I’ll starve Evie off if she wants daddy time.”

“Mhhh- best husband ever,” Clint muttered. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Bucky said before he took Clint’s hearing aids out.

**Author's Note:**

> I dunno why I am obsessed with the names Eva (more like the nickname Evie), and Bennett, but I am, and I apologize for nothing.


End file.
